Which states will legalize pot next?

In its much-discussed editorial published over the weekend, the New York Times called for an end to marijuana prohibition.

“The federal government should follow the growing movement in the states and repeal the ban on marijuana,” the Times wrote in its editorial.

According to a national survey released by the Pew Research Center earlier this year, 54 percent of Americans now support legalization, and a whopping 75 percent believe the feds will eventually do just that.

The question, then, is not if, but when?

“Nobody really knows,” Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told the Denver Post’s Cannabist. “It would take an act of Congress, which is a monumental task, getting Congress to act on anything.”

Instead, it’s been left up to the states to reform marijuana laws. In January, Colorado became the first state to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. Earlier this month, Washington became the second.

Smith and other pot advocates are hopeful that if they can get a legalization measure on the ballot in California in 2016, it will pass and federal reform will follow. Read More…